On Problem of Meaning of Three-Legged Horse in Religious and Mythological Representations of Ossetians

The article is devoted to the image of a wonderful three-legged horse belonging, according to the religious views of Ossetians, to Uastyrdzhi — the heavenly patron of men, warriors and travellers. The relevance of the research is due to the fact that Uastyrdzhi is one of the main actors of the Osset...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: A. V. Darchiev
Format: Article
Language:Russian
Published: Tsentr nauchnykh i obrazovatelnykh proektov 2020-08-01
Series:Научный диалог
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.nauka-dialog.ru/jour/article/view/1853
id doaj-90f67537ed35449181f29e01334eeb59
record_format Article
spelling doaj-90f67537ed35449181f29e01334eeb592021-09-30T08:36:42ZrusTsentr nauchnykh i obrazovatelnykh proektovНаучный диалог2225-756X2227-12952020-08-011838339710.24224/2227-1295-2020-8-383-3971639On Problem of Meaning of Three-Legged Horse in Religious and Mythological Representations of OssetiansA. V. Darchiev0V. I. Abaev North Ossetian Institute for Humanitarian and Social Studies — the Filial of the Vladikavkaz Science Centre of the Russian Academy of SciencesThe article is devoted to the image of a wonderful three-legged horse belonging, according to the religious views of Ossetians, to Uastyrdzhi — the heavenly patron of men, warriors and travellers. The relevance of the research is due to the fact that Uastyrdzhi is one of the main actors of the Ossetian saga and mythology, so a thorough study of all the stories and characters associated with Uastyrdzhi contributes to a more complete reconstruction of traditional religious and mythological representations of Ossetians. In addition, this study is a response to the increased public interest in this issue in Ossetia, which has recently acquired a debatable character. The common interpretation of the three-legged motif of the miraculous horse as its transformed “fire-legged” is criticized. An extensive comparative material is presented, showing the prevalence of the image of a three-legged horse in folklore and mythological systems of different peoples of the world. The author comes to the conclusion that three-legged motif is one of the manifestations of solar symbolism of a horse in mythology. Attention is paid to the psychopompic function inherent in the image of a three-legged horse. The novelty of the research is seen in attracting new arguments for the interpretation of three-legged motif (primarily data from Indo-Iranian mythology), which previously remained outside the researchers’ attention.https://www.nauka-dialog.ru/jour/article/view/1853three-legged horseuastyrdzhinart sagaossetian mythologysolar symbol
collection DOAJ
language Russian
format Article
sources DOAJ
author A. V. Darchiev
spellingShingle A. V. Darchiev
On Problem of Meaning of Three-Legged Horse in Religious and Mythological Representations of Ossetians
Научный диалог
three-legged horse
uastyrdzhi
nart saga
ossetian mythology
solar symbol
author_facet A. V. Darchiev
author_sort A. V. Darchiev
title On Problem of Meaning of Three-Legged Horse in Religious and Mythological Representations of Ossetians
title_short On Problem of Meaning of Three-Legged Horse in Religious and Mythological Representations of Ossetians
title_full On Problem of Meaning of Three-Legged Horse in Religious and Mythological Representations of Ossetians
title_fullStr On Problem of Meaning of Three-Legged Horse in Religious and Mythological Representations of Ossetians
title_full_unstemmed On Problem of Meaning of Three-Legged Horse in Religious and Mythological Representations of Ossetians
title_sort on problem of meaning of three-legged horse in religious and mythological representations of ossetians
publisher Tsentr nauchnykh i obrazovatelnykh proektov
series Научный диалог
issn 2225-756X
2227-1295
publishDate 2020-08-01
description The article is devoted to the image of a wonderful three-legged horse belonging, according to the religious views of Ossetians, to Uastyrdzhi — the heavenly patron of men, warriors and travellers. The relevance of the research is due to the fact that Uastyrdzhi is one of the main actors of the Ossetian saga and mythology, so a thorough study of all the stories and characters associated with Uastyrdzhi contributes to a more complete reconstruction of traditional religious and mythological representations of Ossetians. In addition, this study is a response to the increased public interest in this issue in Ossetia, which has recently acquired a debatable character. The common interpretation of the three-legged motif of the miraculous horse as its transformed “fire-legged” is criticized. An extensive comparative material is presented, showing the prevalence of the image of a three-legged horse in folklore and mythological systems of different peoples of the world. The author comes to the conclusion that three-legged motif is one of the manifestations of solar symbolism of a horse in mythology. Attention is paid to the psychopompic function inherent in the image of a three-legged horse. The novelty of the research is seen in attracting new arguments for the interpretation of three-legged motif (primarily data from Indo-Iranian mythology), which previously remained outside the researchers’ attention.
topic three-legged horse
uastyrdzhi
nart saga
ossetian mythology
solar symbol
url https://www.nauka-dialog.ru/jour/article/view/1853
work_keys_str_mv AT avdarchiev onproblemofmeaningofthreeleggedhorseinreligiousandmythologicalrepresentationsofossetians
_version_ 1716863491452698624